Time Crisis
by Seto's Darkness
Summary: Sasuke and his team are tasked to stop Itachi's plan to destroy the world using his most powerful weapon—Uzumaki Naruto [SasuNaru AU]


**Warning : **Whee, another AU that's on the mystery/drama genre… AU-ness, slight OOC-ness, yaoi and shounen-ai… **SasuNaru**, though other side pairings would undoubtedly pop out… mild violence… This fanfiction is rated **M**.

**Disclaimer : **I don't own anything.

**Notes : **I'm trying a new way of writing on this one… Uh, actually not. Coz I've used this style in my _Ten Years of Solitude_ :P Anyway… Please read on and enjoy :)

**Inspired By: **I've read from my research regarding ancient civilizations that the Ancient Mayans (…or Aztecs, I'm not quite sure) predicted, using their math and star-positions and something-else, that the end of the world would be on December 23, 2012. The main inspirations for this fanfiction include: _Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040_, _Yu-Gi-Oh, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Full Metal Alchemist, Magic Knight Rayearth, Gene Shaft _and _Gundam Seed Destiny._

**

* * *

21:00 hours; December 23, 2011; Friday**

The thickly-dense air felt horribly stifling, but to him, nothing makes any difference. There is only one reason for his existence, and that reason is right in front of him. Darkness covered the entire area, and he couldn't see any source of light, save the pale-blue hue emanating from the capsule in front of him.

Doctors and scientists hovered over the capsule, pens and notepads on their hands, heavy glasses perched precariously on the bridges of their noses. Soldiers, completely armed and ready for anything, hovered on the perimeter of this storage area. Thick wires and tubes wound inside and outside the capsule, latched unto the creature locked inside the metal-and-glass pod. Those wires are connected to the gigantic, sophisticated machines that analyzed the creature's statistics.

His scarlet-colored eyes watched the pod absorbedly, his hands tightened into mildly-shaking fists. He lived for this moment, for this moment when the most important, most powerful weapon would be born to this world engulfed in terror, hatred, darkness and desolation. He waited long for this moment, sacrificing everything that meant something to his life. He continued to exist for this one moment—

The glass cover to the tungsten-plated pod lifted a bit, letting the oxygen supply to the creature locked inside to hiss outward. The pale blue color of the liquid cushioning the creature surrounded the immediate area.

His purple-painted nails and pale skin became slightly bluish, courtesy of the light from the container. He didn't mind though; he simply stared unwaveringly at the gap created by the glass cover, eagerly awaiting _his_ creation to wake up and stand up.

There's a slight hissing sound that erupted from inside the metallic container. Within a split second, the bluish light became _very_ bright—as the life-support liquid spilled out from the container, drenching the workers nearby with the stinging material. Blue water dripped heavily from **Uchiha Itachi's **grayish-black bangs, as the red-eyed man watched fixedly how his creation stood before their very eyes.

A naked male, looking spitefully innocent, young, stood motionless in front of all the people assembled inside the supposedly-abandoned storage area, eyes closed, bronzed arms hung limply from feminine-like shoulders, feet still touching the liquid left within the metal pod.

Somehow, the sight of a young teenage male with whisker-like markings on his cheeks didn't exactly fit Itachi's expectations of a robotic weapon that could destroy the entire world in one snap. Doubt filtered the crimson-eyed male's insides, his genius mind winding about the possible explanations for this particular seeming-failure.

Before he could actually order the scientists standing disbelievingly near him to place the blond teen inside his case again, the creature's eyes snapped open, as though sensing the plan to put him back to a long sleep once more. Those cerulean eyes appeared downright beautiful, but something flickered inside those orbs, something that decidedly looked like malice and malevolence.

The few seconds of breathing was the only warning, before the creature's eyes glowed, and bluish flames swallowed up the whole place, leaving nothing behind, as the azure colored-blaze destroyed the roof first, making the starless sky look impossibly blue.

And while the blaze clung to everything it could find, Itachi's crimson eyes are wide-open, satisfied with the results of his life-long work.

_This power… is mine.

* * *

_

**16:30 hours; December 23, 2011; Friday**

He's still early, but he decided that arriving early for his newest work isn't something awful. He let his back rest as comfortably as possible against the leather seat of the service the agency sent to pick him up. A small, hollow smirk appeared on his lips for a fleeting moment, thinking about how the agency pampered him because of the blood pounding inside his veins.

_It's my curse_, He thought bitterly, though none of his acrimony showed on his pale-skinned, carefully-chiseled, worshipped-by-many face. Thinking about his blood always led to hostile thoughts about curses and burdens, which ultimately led up to highly-unpleasant thoughts regarding the memories of his family.

He leaned his forehead against the cooling glass of the tinted windows, allowing him to see the pitiful state earth has found itself in. Mud and dirt perpetually covered the cemented sidewalks. The blood from various killings, accidents and campaigns were always cleaned up immediately, as though erasing the viscous liquid away from the soil would erase the sins committed. The pearly tears that spilled from the eyes of those who were killed, those who killed, and those who were left by the ones killed, were all greedily drank up by the thirty land.

_There is no trace,_ He mentally chanted, black eyes narrowed as they passed by the grimy surroundings, from the dimly-lit alleys were civilians huddled around. Sooner, more than later, these poor civilians would be swept away from the alleys and into detainment camps, into prisons, or better yet, twenty feet below the ground.

Before he knew it, the sleek, black limousine stopped in front of a tall, foreboding, glass building whose top is designed with the red-colored character for 'fire'. The driver quickly opened the door for him, bowing obediently, mumbling in a practiced tone: "Welcome to the Hokage's Headquarters, **Uchiha Sasuke**."

Sasuke's obsidian orbs watched how the servants and the butlers rushed to greet him, how sophisticated the building and its gadgets are, how standing on this very place seemed to give him a boost of energy.

_This… is my power.

* * *

_

**17:25 hours; December 23, 2011; Friday**

He didn't really _want _to go here—though it could be said that he never _want_ed to do much. However, being a member of the Branch Family didn't really have much of the freedom and the quirks the Main Family flaunted around for generations.

As dispassionate as he was for living, he didn't actually want the world to end—not so quickly, not so silently, not so glumly. Maybe that's one of his reasons for going to this place, to this glass-covered building, rising above the desolate place that represented the more powerful, the more fortunate, the more _normal_ part of Tokyo.

**Hyuuga Neji **impassively glanced at the well-polished floors, at the security cameras, at the refined technology. If only the rest of Tokyo—no, the entire world…—were this advanced… He shook his head slightly, as though getting rid of the tumultuous thoughts. There's no use of regretting, of wishing—the only thing he could do now is to do his best to annihilate the new group of people and machineries led by an ambitious person who wanted to obtain the power surpassing everyone else's.

The member of Hyuuga's Branch Family entered the silver elevator; he punched the button for number '33' and waited for the piece of machine to deliver him to his destination. Neji joined this operation, not only because of the fame and recognition he'd gain if he's successful, not only for the high amount of funding this mission received, not only because of his Clan's connections with the appointed-Hokage.

He joined this operation because he wanted to save the world.

He—

_I'll be powerful enough to save all those important to me.

* * *

_

**17:50 hours; December 23, 2011; Friday**

He wished he could say that he was here so that he could save the world. He really wished he could say that, but to say those words would mean giving out an utter lie, and he wouldn't like that either. His reasons for being here exceeded his usual cheerful expressions, exceeded the goody-goody goals.

He's here to prove his strength. When he learned that the _Hyuuga Neji_ is going to be here, he didn't even think twice of the Hokage's offer to join this operation. Programmed machines were found out to be of no match to the obviously-better technologies by their enemy. It was then decided that a team of special human beings would have to battle the creations and machineries by the ambitious person, who went under the title _Mangekyou_.

He strode down the hallways with ease, keeping his smile intact as the various people that he passed by took especially long to stare at his bowl-cut hair and his much-thicker-than-normal eyebrows.

He wanted to go to the meeting room, excited as he was to be the first one to arrive here, but according to Jiraiya-sama (which he already talked with earlier), the only remaining Uchiha and the prized Hyuuga had arrived rather early this afternoon already. The white-haired man told him kindly that he'd have to wait on his special quarters until 18:00 hours for their briefing.

But he, **Rock Lee**, couldn't wait, for reasons that are only known to him.

_I'll gain power… then, Sakura-san, I'll save you.

* * *

_

**18:19 hours; December 23, 2011; Friday**

His face is frozen into an expressionless mask as they sat inside the conference room. His black eyes are trained unto the spot behind the white-eyed male, easily ignoring the uncomfortably dry feeling of the conditioned air circling around the room and caressing his exposed skin.

His major teammates for this operation included _Hyuuga Neji_, the famed genius from this generation of the Hyuuga Clan and _Rock Lee_, the physically-powerful person with superb determination. The final member of their team is yet to arrive, but Hatake Kakashi, their supervisor, told them that the other's lateness is considered normal.

So there they were, seated silently on their comfortable chairs, waiting for 19 minutes already for the appearance of the best strategist the Human Resource Management Group has found. He opened the folder silently perched on top of his smooth table, long fingers flipping through the papers. He already was familiar with the Hyuuga and the bushy-eyebrow teen; he was only reading about **Nara Shikamaru**, the super-genius from Tokyo University who was admitted despite his terribly low grades, which were brought upon by his extreme laziness.

It's really interesting, if he thought about it. The most powerful and most special people that the Hokage could find were all gathered here in this building. Even if his reasons for being here isn't as noble (and as stupid) as saving the world and their loved ones, he wouldn't mind honing his skills in this facility.

The door to the conference room opened, and a young woman with grayish hair and crimson eyes stepped inside, followed by a burly-looking man with a cigarette dangling on the corners of his mouth. His heart stopped, before restarting to beat, then picking up speed, as he stared at the woman—gray hair, red eyes—Itachi, Itachi, Itachi—ITACHI!

Before he knew it, he was already standing stiffly before the woman, dagger tightly clenched on his right hand, the edge pointed ruthlessly on her cream-colored neck, his own breathing manically fast. His eyes are dilated; he saw the image of his older brother's smirk, of the moon's silver light folding all over that grayish-black hair, of those blood-hued eyes looking as impassive as a person could get…

Kakashi cleared his throat meaningfully—and he belatedly realized that the silver-haired man was already standing beside him. "Sasuke, this is Yuuhi Kurenai," He said patiently, eyes terribly pitiful and understanding. Damn it, he doesn't need understanding, nor concern, nor pity.

"Pleased to meet you, Uchiha Sasuke," Kurenai said gently, smiling slightly even with the dagger still positioned mechanically near her throat. Sasuke's hand mildly trembled before retreating fully. The dark-haired male took a step back, before moving like light and sat back on his chair half-a-room away.

The man with the cigarette made a faint sound of approval at the display of speed. He then bowed a bit to the three teens assembled inside the room, before speaking casually, "My name's Sarutobi Asuma; I'll be one of your team leaders."

As though an afterthought, he gestured behind him, and he almost pushed forward the irritated-looking male. "This is the last member of your team: Nara Shikamaru." The super-genius then took a seat beside Sasuke, who looked impassive once more, with no hints of the agitated look he had on his eyes earlier.

Kurenai, Asuma and Kakashi went to stand in the middle of the room, and they began the briefing. Sasuke stared off at the lists of missions, of the maps of this whole building, of the emergency notices, of the signals they'd use, of the standard protocol when attacked, of the limits of their accesses on the various security-protected databases, among all other things. All those pointers, instructions, words—they're all nothing but strings of letters to the youngest Uchiha. Those things wouldn't really matter to him, in the long run.

_I'm only here… to seek power.

* * *

_

**21:47 hours; December 23, 2011; Friday**

He walked briskly down the copiously wet sidewalk, the faint light from the not-yet-completely broken lamppost making the puddles of rainwater look slightly sparkly. The civilians that were previously huddled on this walkway were now absent, seeing as the night's chilly wind isn't going to provide any positive help for their survival—and the heavy rain from the early evening made everywhere with_out_ a roof a very unpleasant place to stay. Not only the weather made staying outside at night suicidal; _Mangekyou_ is famous for performing the brutal side of its operations with the cloak of the night's darkness.

His footsteps were light and stealthy enough so that there are no sounds made as his leather boots came into contact with the scattered puddles of water; the ripples made on the water were small enough to be unnoticeable.

His hands were tucked inside his pants' pockets, his black trench coat billowing as he walked opposing the passing wind. He was assigned to this area—the first _ku_. Barely three hours after the briefing, and they already have a mission. He wasn't complaining though—if anything, he could feel something akin to excitement as he pondered about the powerful being that could have caused the observed blue haze from the ex-downtown Tokyo less than an hour ago. He went here as fast as he could; he pointedly ignored Kakashi's seemingly-good-natured jibe (which was about his apparent eagerness to save the world) to him as he raced down the stairs of the Hokage's quarters (effectively leaving behind his teammates).

He stumbled upon a large abandoned garage-looking area whose metallic gates seemed to be charred with relentless fire. He gingerly touched one side of the gate—it's still warm.

_It's possible that it was here,_ He thought as his boots made contact with the ash-covered floor. Even with the dim surroundings due to the time, he could still recognize a couple of machines, wires and glass from the remains of the fire. _It's rather sophisticated,_ He thought, letting his fingertips brush against the edges of the burnt materials.

The only sound that could be heard inside the abandoned storage area was the sound of his controlled breathing. He was reminded, once again, of the feeling of being _truly _alone—with nobody close enough to help you if you're hurt, with nothing available to defend yourself with, with nothing—_nothing._

His charcoal-colored eyes found something _bright_ amidst the darkness that fell and covered the destroyed machineries inside. He could see that the roof was destroyed enough to let a circle pass through. The moon's pale light was still shrouded by the thick nimbus clouds; despite the hole on the ceiling, darkness still covered mostly everything.

The person that he saw, however, was different. _He shone_, even in the darkness. He could see the sun-colored hair even from a distance.

**Uchiha Sasuke** walked calmly towards the golden-colored person, but the blond didn't seem to notice his presence at all. He stopped walking until the tips of his boots were an inch away from the male's crossed legs. The Uchiha crouched low to be eye-level with the lost-looking teen.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked curtly, one hand stretched out gently (…or so he hoped) towards the teen. The blond's bowed head snapped up, blue eyes dilated and staring eerily into Sasuke's black ones. The Uchiha's lips twitched into a grim smile, before fading away completely.

"…Uh… yeah," The blond said rather belatedly, focused into staring confusedly at Sasuke's rather-close face. "…I suppose I'm fine."

"…What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked another question, head leaning slightly to the right, his bangs spilling towards the sides, with the blond's endearingly-big blue eyes following his every movement.

"…I don't know." The blond admitted, drawing his crossed legs closer to himself. "I'm cold-d," The blond continued, his arms winding upwards to wrap protectively over his chest. The action told Sasuke that the blond is currently… _damn, he's naked! _

Sasuke blushed, despite himself. As though making up for noticing the blond's nakedness so belatedly, he hastily shook out his trench coat, and carefully set it over the other teen's lean shoulders. The blue-eyed male smiled at him brightly, probably as appreciation for his action, and Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. _It's a good thing it's dark here…_

The moment of awkwardness on Sasuke's part ended as he cleared his throat, remembering his job almost too suddenly. "Did you see an explosion or a blue beam from this area, say, about 9 p.m.?"

The blond's azure eyes widened, as traces of warmth and comfort from the past few minutes disappeared into an almost-tangible wave of despair and cruelty. And then, as abruptly as it happened, the blond's confused look returned, drowning out the manic expression with seemingly-practiced ease.

"…I think there was. It was here," The younger one's voice trembled slightly, and Sasuke's hand made soft contact with the teen's cheek, feeling some indentations with the skin—scars, most likely. "I… I was so scared—I…"

"It's okay," Sasuke remarked with a soothing voice, something that he never thought he possessed. He reached out his other hand and pulled the obviously-scared blond close to him, hoping to provide solace to the disturbed male.

"Come with me," Sasuke said tenderly, telling himself that he's only doing this because this person is a witness—nothing more.

"I—thank you," The blue-eyed teen said in a voice filled with relief and something similar to contentment. Sasuke felt slightly guilty for leading this person on; he should know better than to imply a promise of safety…

"Let's go," Sasuke said, lifting the younger one easily into his arms, carrying the naked blond (covered only by his trench coat) bridal style. He looked forward, feet careful not to hit anything, lest he lose balance and drop the seemingly-fragile boy into the hard floor.

"Thank you, Sasuke," The blond said with a soft voice, but there's something sinister inside the tone, something evil, something pointed, and Sasuke sharply glanced down at the only witness he found, wanting to question the stranger as to how he learned of his name, but—

The blond was already asleep on his arms.

The Uchiha sighed deeply, shifting the blond into his arms for a more comfortable position. He'd question the blond later.

He had a hard time convincing himself, though, that it's not because he wanted the blond to rest first, it's not because he was concerned about the blond.

_I only do this for power…

* * *

_

**To Be Continued**

Naked Naruto –drool- Sasuke, you lucky guy, you :P

You are all invited to suggest/**vote** your choices of side pairings that you would like to appear on this fanfiction :) The side pairings that I thought of including (ones in **bold **are the ones I like a bit more than the others), as of now, are: ItaSasu, ItaNaru, GaaNeji, **GaaLee**, **ShikaTema**, ShikaIno, ShikaChou, NejiShika, **NejiHina** and **KisaIta**. Please feel free to protest/suggest other pairings :)

The date-day correspondence is true –smile- I consulted my perpetual calendar, because I'd love to make this as accurate as possible XD I hope my sentences and descriptions embodied the depressing state of Earth by "2012".

**Re**: Mangekyou – directly translates to Kaleidoscope (i.e. as in Mangekyou Sharingan); **Re**: Ku – according to my research (lol) Tokyo is divided to 23 wards or _ku_. Since Tokyo is pretty big, I thought that one _ku_ is enough per person T.T;; Haha, just correct me if I'm wrong though :P

**Re**: Last scene – uh-huh, Naruto is rather creepy—he knew Sasuke's name without asking. If it isn't very obvious yet, Naruto is the person on the last scene and on the first scene XD

**Please review **c",) Reviews make my inspiration grow healthy and strong XD


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